Second Chances
by AckaRed
Summary: Slight slight slight Detective Conan cross over. All you need to know is that the toxin known as Apotoxin-4869 has a 99% chance of killing the subject, and a 1% chance of turning them into a child. Mizuki arrives just before Iruka after the stealing of the Forbidden Scroll. Add in a usually fatal toxin, and just what changes in this future? Language later is the reason for rating.
1. Chapter I

Second Chances (Naruto, slight Detective Conan)

Our story starts in a forest clearing with an exhausted blonde boy. He had been practicing a forbidden jutsu – the Shadow Clone Technique – for several hours now, after one of his teachers by the name of Mizuki told him that, though he had failed the initial Genin exam, there was another way. This was by him stealing the Forbidden Scroll – it must be said, what an original name – from the Hokage Tower and learning one jutsu. He came across the Hokage as he snuck away with the Scroll, and knocked him out with his Sexy Jutsu, which turned him into a naked, buxom blonde girl with wisps of smoke barely covering what needed to stay covered.

The blonde – Naruto – was filthy and panting from exertion, as a figure bounded from the trees in front of him.

"Hey, Mizuki-sensei! I have the scroll, and I even learned a jutsu!" He grinned at his silver-haired teacher.

"You're pathetic," he sneered. "You don't get it, do you? The Scroll is for me! No one would ever accept you as a Genin, so give it up. Who'd ever let a demon like you be a shinobi?"

The question was obviously rhetorical – not that the boy knew what the word meant – so instead the blonde asked, "What do you mean, sensei? I'm not a demon ..."

The previously hidden hatred and contempt burned in Mizuki's eyes. "You're not a demon? Don't make me laugh," he scoffed. "The Kyuubi never died. It simply chose a human form … That of a child, with blonde hair and blue eyes. You!"

"M-me? I'm the … Kyuubi?" He mumbled to himself in shock, tears beginning to well up in his eyes. He was in a daze, completely unaware of his surroundings.

Gleefully noting that the blonde was stunned, Mizuki withdrew a syringe full of a strange liquid and walked in that slow, careful way that one does when one is utterly sure that their prey will not move, with an evil grin of satisfaction reminiscent of an evil scientist.

He reached the academy student, waving his free hand in front of the blank blue eyes that stared into space. Somehow widening his grin, Mizuki's arm suddenly swept downwards and plunged the needle into the soft flesh between Naruto's upper and lower arm, releasing the toxin named 'Apotoxin-4869', which, as far as he knew, resulted in 100% of the test subjects dying. This wasn't strictly true. But he didn't need to know that.

Naruto jerked out of his stupefied state as a burning pain – so hot, so _painful_ – spread through his body like wildfire, flames of pain flickering everywhere inside him. He fell to the grass, writhing and his body racked with spasm-inducing _torture_. If the sensation of heat coursing through his body hadn't been smothering his lungs, he would have screamed. As it was, his mouth was gaping open as he struggled to breathe, the rest of his face screwed up, trying to stop the agony.

Mizuki, having taken the syringe from the blonde's arm, placed it into the same pocket he'd taken it out of and walked up to the scroll, slowly reaching down to pick it up. He loved the sight of the demon child in pain, it deserved it. Oh, how it deserved it.

This was the scene Iruka arrived at while he was searching for Naruto – and the scroll. The brown haired academy teacher was panicked and full of worry as he saw his student, but he forced himself to wait and make sure everything was as it seemed.

"The demon deserves a death like this. Extremely painful, spasms likely and it's hard to see when they end and the death throes begin." He smirked cruelly as he spoke, seemingly to himself. Iruka wasn't sure.

The silver-haired man bent down and picked up the scroll. "I know Master said he wanted this scroll as soon as possible, but surely he wouldn't deny me the time to watch the demon die? No, I'm sure he would want me to watch, if he were here." He continued his monologue, his eyes shadowed by his hair. He began to laugh, a sound that betrayed hints of mental instability, sounding unhinged.

Iruka was mad. Wait, scratch that, he was positively _livid_. Naruto was one of _his_ students, one who was hated far too much whether in or out of the class, one who he took for ramen when he could afford it, one who he saw a little bit of himself in from the time after his parents died, his _favourite_ and most _hard-working_ student, and _Mizuki was laughing about the fact he'd poisoned him and he was dying in agony!_

All he could see was red. He remembered attacking Mizuki, partly for betraying his trust and their friendship, partly for attempting to betray the village, but mainly for killing Naruto. When he could see properly again, he was panting over a bloody pulp that might or might not have been alive that had been Mizuki.

There were three ANBU, with Rat, Boar and Cat masks, standing in the clearing, too, next to the Hokage. He felt a little worried. He wasn't going to get arrested or anything for losing his temper like that and attacking Mizuki, even though he was a traitor?

The Cat-masked ANBU, who was significantly shorter than their companions, chuckled. "Well, not what I would have done in this situation, I'd have just torn him limb from limb and be done with it."

Rat turned to Cat. "You know what they say, there's more than one way to skin a cat, Cat."

Cat groaned at Rat. "You must have said it a hundred times by now, and it hasn't gotten any funnier."

"Defusing the tension!" Rat protested.

"And failing miserably," muttered Boar.

"Oh, lighten up, Boar! You're always so gloomy, it's depressing."

"I second that," added Cat.

Boar sighed. "Now's not the time, remember? Besides, look. I don't think Blondie's dead."

"STOP DISCRIMINATING PEOPLE VIA HAIR COLOUR!" Cat shouted at him, punching him in the side of the head. Her hood fell, revealing her long blonde hair. "Now look what you've done," she said grumpily, snatching her hood and yanking it back up.

"What do you mean, the kid's not dead? You did see the spasms?" Rat seemed confused.

"I did not go blind in the past few minutes, no. And I mean, the kid's breathing, seems to be out of pain and-"

"HOLY SHIT! He's seven again! Considering that was when I last saw him before I got sent on that six year string of assassination and infiltration missions," Cat muttered sullenly. She hated assassination and infiltration missions, she got injured badly on most of them. For some reason, she always got the missions where something was bound to go wrong, and when it did, she was always the one who got hurt. Now that she thought about it, her niece was going to be in the academy this year. Cat hoped that she wouldn't get stuck with a truckload of Tora missions like she did when she graduated. Those should have been at _least_ C-ranked, if not B.

She also hated the fact that the Hokage had ordered her not to have any kind of relationship with him outside of guarding him. She resented that she _knew_ the Hokage sent her on those missions to stop her from even taking him out for ramen or buying his groceries when he was out of food and money – or just food, and he had to pay horrendous prices.

"Wait, what?" Rat exclaimed.

"Cat, no," the Hokage said sharply, knowing exactly what she was about to do.

She was furious, but didn't let it show.

"Iruka, go home. We need to sort this out. I'll let you know when we can talk about this. Until then, tell the children that Mizuki turned traitor, but nothing else."

Iruka nodded numbly, and then used the Body Flicker technique to get back to his apartment. He had a lot to think about, not least the team groupings … Wait, the team groupings! He hadn't even gotten past the new Ino-Shika-Cho trio! Tonight was going to be a long night.

_A/N: Hi! I had this finished yesterday, but I'm posting it today because ... HAPPY BIRTHDAY MALTRAZZ! It is only thanks to Maltrazz that I have this story. This story was completely their idea, and Maltrazz graciously let me write up this one._

_PLUS: I DO NOT OWN NARUTO IN ANY WAY, SHAPE OR FORM. I forgot to add that to my other story, Konoha's Sadistic Prankster, and my two one-shots, Stress Relief and Somewhere I Belong.  
_

_Right, now that's done. Thanks for reading, please review and such, and have a great day! Unless you flame. I don't mind criticism, I would like to know how I can make it better, but if you are unnecessarily cruel about it ("omfg it sucks", "dont write crap like this" etc.), then rest assured, though I will fume in peace, I will NOT tolerate them every other chapter I upload or something.  
_


	2. Chapter II

"Naruto."

The blonde had just woken up, and he looked over to the Hokage, noting that he was in the hospital. Again.

"Yeah, Old Man?" He asked, tilting his head to the side. He felt numb. His words were slurred slightly, his tongue a little sluggish.

"Do you remember what happened last night?"

"Um ..." Naruto racked his brain. "Yeah, I think so. I did what Mizuki-sen … I mean, Mizuki-teme told me was the make-up exam … Got the Forbidden Scroll and knocked you out with my Sexy no Jutsu … Learned the Shadow Clone no Jutsu … Mizuki-teme showed up, told me about the damn fuzzball that tried to splash me to death in my mindscape while I was unconscious … I think he injected something in me." Naruto made a little 'hmm' sound as he thought about it.

"He did. No one seems to know what it is, and Mizuki's not going to be able to speak for a while, if ever again. The medics were hard-pressed to keep him alive." The Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, explained.

Naruto frowned. "Who nearly killed him? Musta been after the injecting-of-the-weird-burny-stuff part."

"Iruka found the two of you just after then, and beat him to a bloody mess-"

"-Which is no more than he deserved, and really funny. The expression on his face when he thought we might arrest him for beating up a traitor!" Came the laughter of a member of ANBU, who was sitting in the corner of the room. "Hey Shrimp. Miss me?"

"Prawn-Cat?" Asked the boy, astonished. "I thought you were dead! When you weren't coming any more ..."

"Yes, well, _somebody_-" the cat-mask turned to the Hokage "-decided to send me on so many fucking missions in a fucking row that I never even got to say 'hi' to my niece, let alone request a mission to look after you."

The Hokage whistled innocently, looking away, as if the blank white wall was the most interesting thing in the world.

The other two in the room sweatdropped. "Seriously?" Cat asked, unamused.

He looked at them incredulously. "What?"

Cat shook her head. "I really shouldn't bother. I could get more out of an _imbécile_ than him, if he put his mind to acting like that."

"Um, moving on," said Naruto. "What did that stuff do to me, anyway?"

The Hokage floundered about, trying to tell him. "Well – it seems to have – sort of – uh, I mean – it's, um-"

Cat sighed. "What the old fart's _trying_ to say is that your body has reverted back to what it was when you were seven. It's not really that hard to say," she said flatly, her voice containing annoyance at the elderly man that was her leader.

Naruto blinked his blue eyes, the reality not sinking in. "... What?"

"You are seven again. End of story."

Naruto's eyes widened. "How the hell did that stuff manage to _do_ that?" He all but yelled.

"Shh!" Cat hissed, listening out for nurses.

Naruto mimed zipping his mouth shut. He was slowly regaining use of his body – one patch of pins-and-needles at a time. He could sort of feel the scratchy sheets he was between, and the clothes he was wearing included a shirt, as far as he could tell. His hips and below were still numb.

"I had a thought," said Cat, slowly, as if she was still piecing things together in her mind. "Old Fart, you said that his Transformations are completely solid, right?"

The man in question nodded.

"Well, what if he used his Sexy no Jutsu form, but for this age, without the whiskers and clothed, and joined the Academy again? Iruka will be teaching the new influx of students starting this September, because of his current class graduating, so he'd know his teacher? He'd be properly taught, too. We could pretend that … Naruto Uzumaki, orphan and Kyuubi container, was killed by the traitor, Mizuki, after being conned into taking the Forbidden Scroll for him … and that Atarashi Namikaze, niece of the Yondaime Hokage, has come to Konoha after her parents died, to join the Academy and be a ninja?"

Naruto and Sarutobi were silent thinking about it, Naruto stunned too much to speak anyway. His idol, the Yondaime, would be his uncle, if they used Prawn-Cat's plan!

Then, the Hokage had such an _evil_, but _interesting_ and _amusing_ thought that he decided to share.

"That would make Atarashi Namikaze's age around equivalent to the amout of time you spent away from the village on a string of missions, correct?"

"What are you getting at, Old Fart?" She asked sharply.

"Well … I am just thinking … wouldn't it be more efficient if, say, Atarashi had a mother … who had to care for her in secret … and, after the death of Atarashi's father, decided to just stop all of the lies and half-truths, and bring her daughter to Konoha?"

"Old Fart! You're not seriously considering …! I'll have to be taken off the ANBU roster, Rat and Boar can't do half the mission's with just a two-man group! My sister will hate me for not telling her! She and her husband might not let me see … might not let me see my niece ..." she trailed off. She hadn't even seen her niece yet, not once. She only knew that she had a niece and not a nephew because Rat had checked for her and told her, and as soon as she was rested the day before, she had been with Rat, Boar and the Hokage at the clearing. She had missed out on so much, they might hate her anyway.

"Cat … It will work out all right, I'm sure of it. And you asked several times to adopt Naruto Uzumaki, so why not be Atarashi Namikaze's mother?"

Despite the mask, how lost and unsure of herself she felt was tangible in the air to the Hokage and the Kyuubi conatiner.

"Prawn-Cat … I think you'd be great. I'd like it if you'd do it, but if you don't want to, you don't have to," Naruto said quietly, sincerely. He had Transformed into a girl with long blonde hair in pigtails and bright blue eyes – the same colour as his used to be – when they weren't paying attention. He – she – was wearing a skirt under the sheets, not that the others could see, and … her right leg, at least, wasn't numb any more. The other one was another story.

Cat was silent for a moment. "Damn you and your innocent-child-convincingness ..." She stood up and walked over to her fellow blonde – she hadn't had her hood up at all – and her height in relationship to hi … her showed that she was a little over a head's height taller than her.

She removed her mask. "Atarashi Namikaze … I'm your mother."

_A/N: Sorry, I just couldn't help it! I'd already written it, when the well-known Star Wars quote popped up in my head, and I just couldn't change it! Please note, just for future reference, that I have never seen any of the Star Wars movies._

_I can't believe I finished this chapter already …! I'm just going to slow down, breathe and think through my plans for the next chapters of both this and KSP so I won't be pulling on nothing, like I was for the end of the last chapter of KSP._

_Well, have a great day, please review, and I accept criticism. Ciao._


	3. Chapter III

Atarashi felt uncomfortable, as she stood in front of a door she hadn't been through before. To her right was her … mother's (it felt so weird to say that) left leg. She stepped behind it nervously. She really didn't like being a girl … it felt strange, and not in a good way. She hoped that she'd be able to drop her Transformation when they got home.

_Home _… that was also strange to her. Home, to her, had always meant that disgusting apartment she had lived in, but Prawn-Cat – _no, she's Mother now_ – had always told her of that saying, 'Home is where the heart is', and that she had been a refugee with her sister and elderly father, coming from Iwa during the war. They had hidden out near Konoha, until she had begged her father to let her join the Academy. She'd graduated the year after the war ended, so she hadn't fought in the war, but she had seen what wars really did on her way to Konoha. Atarashi remembered listening avidly to her tales when she was seven-year-old Naruto the first time round.

She remembered, this time, that she had prayed for there to be no more wars if they were so terrible – she hadn't really understood what they were then.

But still. She didn't like the idea of meeting a family of strangers, and pretending to be a part of it.

And she felt confused, too. Confused because – well, aside from the fact she'd only know Iruka-sensei when she went back into the Academy, she wasn't really sure what she'd do if she got _friends_. She'd never had any, so it was understandable that she wouldn't.

She frowned a little. She didn't like her pale orange skirt – a compromise from her mother – very much, it was itchy, although the black leggings underneath were a bit stretchy as well as being soft, so she liked _them_ well enough. Her shirt … well, wearing a white top with an orange kitty on wasn't _too_ bad, but … she still felt almost as though she was _naked_ without her orange jumpsuit. She may not have liked the exact shade of orange of the jumpsuit, but worn it for the sake of orange, of getting attention … for the sake of not starving in the months she would need new clothes. It had been given to her by an Academy teacher years ago, one that hated her, the day before she began the Academy.

She thought he was trying to kill her indirectly.

A larger hand found hers, and she clutched it. She felt a reassuring squeeze, but she still stuck resolutely behind her mother's black-clad body – she couldn't seem to get rid of the colour, even in her casual clothes, although her blonde hair was loose and pulled behind an elasticated blue headband.

Thankfully, she decided, she wasn't forced into wearing a headband, and although she was advised not to keep the two ponytails in case anyone thought she looked too much like her Sexy no Jutsu, she did anyway, with two black hair bands tying them to the sides of her head. She made sure they were at least a little loose, and started to consider cutting them shorter, maybe to shoulder length rather than mid-way down her back, because they got in the way.

"Ready, Ata?" She asked, slightly anxious herself. It was silly, but she couldn't help it.

Atarashi still wasn't certain she liked her knew name being shortened, but she didn't complain, and nodded into her mother's shoulder. It really was amazing how she was only a head taller that one of the shortest seven-year-olds in history.

Then her mother – she still found it strange calling anyone, even Prawn-Cat that – lifted her hand and knocked on the door, which, Atarashi now noticed, was a muddy brown.

The door opened to reveal another blonde with blue eyes, obviously Prawn-Cat's sister, but unlike his mother, her features were sharp, and her hair pin-straight. She was still really beautiful, but Atarashi thought Prawn-Cat looked prettier with her softer, rounder features and messy hair.

She was also a lot taller than the both of them, but that didn't really matter right that second to Atarashi.

Not when the man behind the other blonde was so huge! He had flat features, a square jaw, a mop of dark hair, black eyes, broad shoulders and was so tall he had to duck to get his eyes blow the door frame!

Terrified, Atarashi hid herself even further behind her mother.

Then, her mother spoke. "Er, hi, Emi ..."

The other blonde stared at her for a minute. "Kohaku? Nee-chan? I thought you were dead ..."

"Why does everyone think that?" Atarashi's mother, Kohaku, grumbled. "You didn't get a raven, though! I just had a long stream of missions ..."

Although she didn't seem like the kind of woman to do it, Emi leant over and hugged her sister. "I wasn't sure … You hadn't come to see your niece, hadn't even said a word to us for years … I couldn't think straight. So I thought you were dead, even named my daughter after you."

"Emi … can't breathe ..." Kohaku choked out, turning a little blue from Atarashi's perspective. Amazingly, Emi hadn't seen her, but she was sure that the giant had, from his vantage point so high up.

Emi released her sister, already apologising. "Can you come in?" She asked hopefully.

Still over-dramatically clutching at her chest and taking in deep breaths of air, Kohaku nodded.

Emi remained ignorant of Atarashi's presence as she followed her mother through the door, though she could feel the giant's eyes on her all the way to the living room.

** Scene change**

The elderly Hokage sighed. He'd have to announce to the villagers about Naruto's 'death', and about Atarashi. He wasn't relishing it at all.

He just _knew_ he'd have a mountain of paperwork to get through when this was done … he should make it clear that anyone caught celebrating Naruto's, or 'the demon's', death would be jailed. That should stop all but the drunkards, and those who were full of hatred.

He loved this village, he loved all of the villagers, but … why couldn't they just accept Naruto as a young boy, rather than the Kyuubi that was trapped inside of him? He saw the way hate twisted his beloved villagers beyond recognition … it wasn't right. It just wasn't right!

He sighed again. Maybe it was just that they had a much larger capacity for hate than he had ever realised. He knew everyone had it in them to hate, but he never realised just how much hate his villagers could hold.

Yes, he'd definitely have to make a temporary law to stop the villagers' celebrating Naruto's fake death. And maybe he'd take a leaf out of his student's book, and get some sake. That sounded good.

_A/N: Heyo! Well, my friends, thanks for the comments last chapter! Here, I going to address a pair of comments from Emeraldfireblade._

_First … I would never just have copies of the normal cast! I'm not like that! Though I don't want to create too many OC's, or I might forget their personalities and traits and stuff!_

_And no. I am more comfortable writing as a girl, because then I don't have to factor in the way young boys think … then again, I've never really understood how young girls think either! I've always had different thoughts, so I don't understand real people that well. I'm much better with characters. The entire story idea is one I have adopted from Maltrazz, so I have nothing to do with him being a girl for a bit. I do, however, have control over whether he becomes himself to the greater public again. I'm still trying to decide if he does! I guess I'll know as the story goes along._

_Thanks for reading, have a great day and please review!_


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